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Friday, July 31, 2009

I have been working on ideas to use some of my dyed fabrics for a new art quilt. Today, I started auditioning some fabrics I had pulled out of my stash. I sometimes have a hard time envisioning a design by just auditioning fabrics, but this time I did a little cutting and moving around, and I think I may have a design ready to work on. One of my goals was to create a piece with non-squared edges:

I took the picture on the left from the design board, but then rotated around to create the image on the right. I'm almost thinking I like the one on the right better because the larger piece of fabric is on the bottom, and gives it more of a base. Now I guess I'll let it sit for awhile and see if I still like the composition well enough in a day or two to continue.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

I reworked one of the single images I posted the other day, adding some beading and some metallic thread to add a little light to the piece:

It's still hard to see, and if I use my photo editor to lighten it too much, it distorts the image. Hopefully, you can see the difference.

On another single image, I used the foil again to enhance the 'arms' of the sunburst. I am very pleased with how the foil is working!

I have a couple more single images left, and the larger pieces. I am contemplating how to finish the larger pieces, and think I will be looking for ways to mount them on a fabric covered board or canvas stretcher bars, then possibly framing. I like the way the smaller ones look framed... more of a finished look than the way a quilt looks. We'll see...

Friday, July 24, 2009

I have finished 2 more of the 'CD Distortions' series... I'm really liking these! I used foil on one, and foil and metallic thread on the other, which really lights them up. And there is something about framing them that makes them stand out more to me. See what you think...

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

I did some work on my CD Distortions series yesterday, then went to meet a friend for dinner. On the way, I stopped at Walgreen's and found a really nice picture frame on sale. So home it came, and this morning I finished up one of the single CD images and tried it out in the frame:I hadn't really planned to frame them, and probably won't do them all in frames, but this just worked out nicely, I think. Too bad you can't get a closer look... photographs just don't do them justice. Anyway, I'm on my way! Got another piece I'm working on that I may try mounting on a stained wooden plaque... we'll see!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

I dyed a piece of fabric awhile back using CD's and spring clamps to resist the dye:

I set about to quilt and embellish it, but got bogged down after awhile, and it went into the UFO pile.I decided to pull it out yesterday and cut it apart to see if I could create a series of various sizes. Here are some of the pieces on the design board:

Unfortunately, the stitching doesn't show up very well, but I created closeups that might help:

My plan now is to finish the edges, add more embellishments where needed, then possibly mount on black fabric that is stretched over stretcher bars, or on canvas that has been painted black. And I have some other pieces left that I can also finish in this manner. I'll post more when I have completed some of the pieces. I'm calling them my 'CD Distortion' series, although I'm sure some would look at them and think of SciFi eye monsters!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Thanks to some suggestions from Connie Rose, whose work with pole wrap shibori is truly amazing, I have had another breakthrough in my experiments in 'pole wrap' (or in my case, 'bucket wrap') shibori. I had been very neatly wrapping my garment with rows of cord or sinew, then scrunching down to compact and create the resist pattern. What I was getting was nice, tidy rows of color in an "oh, too even", pattern. I asked Connie how she was able to get such beautiful patterns that resembled tree branches. What I got from her description was that I needed to be more relaxed in both my wrapping and my scrunching. For my first experiment, I used this tank:

This was one I wrapped on PVC pipine, and the overlap of the garment prevented a good wrap pattern.

Here it is with the over dye using the method described above:

The shirt wasn't quite dry when I took the pictures, so it looks a little darker than it is. But the organic pattern I achieved with the more relaxed wrap is what I have been striving for all along, and even though the original wrap pattern shows, I think the two blend well together. At any rate, I'm very pleased with the progress this change has helped me to make... thanks, Connie!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

I have been working on a quilt for someone to give as a baby gift, and finally finished it and got it in the mail yesterday. Since they live in the mountains, she wanted a mountain scene, and I love doing those.

It was a little difficult to get a good picture because this is not a 'hanging' quilt', but I got my trusty step ladder out!

Had some difficulty with thread breaking for awhile, then gave up on using cotton quilt thread and pulled out some cotton/poly thread... no more problems!

Meanwhile, I've been hit with several sales from my ArtFire shop, which was nice! And I have a backlog of dyeing to catch up on... life is good!

Friday, July 3, 2009

I love this pattern! After several years of trying for a 'Flag' look, I think this one is a keeper! I did use older dyes which came out more faded than I would have liked, but the pattern itself is one I plan to do a lot more, using fresh dyes. I planned to keep this one anyway, so the fact that it's faded is no biggie. I'll be wearing this to the Flagstaff Tea Party tomorrow... Happy Independence Day!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Yesterday, I overdyed the black/tan tank that had a ghost image of the straps and neckline. I think it's an improvement over the first version:

Then I went out and bought one of those big orange buckets at Home Depot, and tried it out on a new tank:

I actually used black dye, but didn't have the 'scrunches' tight enough in the middle area, so there was very little pattern. I ran it through a bleach bath (have no idea what the bleach:water ratio was... just added bleach to hot water and soaked for awhile!). At any rate, the pattern is now more visible, and I am greatly encouraged by the fact that I didn't get any 'ghost' patterns. My next experiment, I plan to do a couple of things differently. I want to angle the striping, so will need to probably tack with masking tape while I wrap with string (btw, it takes lots of string to do this around a bucket!). I may also try using some thread to stitch the outer edges together across the back side of the bucket. I will take pictures so you can see the stages. Meanwhile, let me know what you think!

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This is a journal of my creative efforts, with a little personal philosophy thrown in to add spice to the mix. Visit my website at www.tiedyejudy.com, my Facebook page Judy Sall Originals, and my twitter feed @judy_sall.